NBC10 reporter Johnny Archer has new details about the storage unit and apartment in Philadelphia where the New York City shooting suspect stayed.
The man charged with terrorizing a New York City subway station Tuesday was in Philadelphia the day before, where he had both an apartment and a storage facility, according to a criminal complaint.
Frank R. James, 62, was arrested Wednesday morning, hours after he had been officially named as a suspect in the shooting that left 10 people with bullet wounds after the attack in the Sunset Park section of Brooklyn. James previously lived in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, but last month arrived in Philadelphia, officials and court documents said.
A tip to the NYPD's Crime Stoppers line brought police to the suspect, sources told NBC News. He was arrested on a East Village street Wednesday. Two law enforcement officials said the tipster was James himself.
Authorities zeroed in on James after finding a key to a U-Haul truck in belongings left on the subway after the shooting, New York police said in a press conference Tuesday. They found that truck in Brooklyn Tuesday evening, and quickly traced it to James.
That truck may have been rented in Philadelphia. Video shows a Philadelphia address and the words "Allegheny West" on the side of the van. Later Wednesday, neighbors and law enforcement officials told NBC10 Philadelphia that the FBI raided a storage facility near Broad and Girard avenues in North Philadelphia.
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According to court documents, inside the jacket James left on the subway platform was a receipt for the storage unit. Records from ride-sharing app Lyft reveal that James visited the storage unit, which was registered in his name, on Monday evening, the criminal complaint alleges. Law enforcement officers discovered ammunition, a 9mm pistol barrel that allows for a silencer or suppressor to be attached, and targets, among other items, the complaint says.
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Officials also identified an apartment allegedly used by James in Philadelphia. The Lyft records reveal James ordered rides to or from the Philly apartment about 21 times from March 28 through April 10, according to James' criminal complaint. The complaint also states the apartment management company information revealed James rented the apartment for 15 days, beginning on March 28. Inside the apartment, officials allegedly recovered an empty magazine for a Glock handgun, a taser and a blue smoke cannister, and other items, the complaint reads.
Authorities think James might have slept in the truck the night before the shooting, NBC News reported. There was foam rubber padding inside, NBC's Pete Williams reported.
Around 6 a.m., he got out of the van and went into the subway system for at least an hour, Williams reported.
James has no fixed address, Williams reported. He was born in the Bronx, but family say he had no long-term job. He has made several social media postings and YouTube videos expressing his concern about crime and other issues, Williams reported.
Authorities are examining those posts, Police Chief of Detectives James Essig and Police Commissioner Keechant Sewell said. She said the posts were “concerning.”
In a video posted on March 20, a man believed to be James can be heard saying, "I'm on my way to Philadelphia."
James has been arrested nine previous times in New York City between 1992 and 1998, police said at a Wednesday press conference. He was arrested three times between 1991 and 2007 in New Jersey, they said.
At least 10 Brooklyn subway riders were shot Tuesday by a man wearing a gas mask and a green construction vest who tossed a smoke canister in the train car to distract the rush hour crowd before opening fire, officials and law enforcement sources said.
More than a dozen others were hurt in the chaos that followed the shooting aboard the Manhattan-bound N train at the 36th Street and Fourth Avenue station in Sunset Park around 8:30 a.m. The gunman was still on the loose overnight into Wednesday.
Five of the gunshot victims were said to be critically injured. Details on the nature of their wounds weren't immediately clear. No fatalities have been reported.
Investigators believe the weapon jammed, preventing the suspect from continuing to fire, the officials said. The federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives has completed an urgent trace to identify the gun’s manufacturer, seller and initial owner.
Witnesses said the entire train car smelled of gasoline. Sources with the MTA described a similar smell too, but the law enforcement officials said no gas cans were found.
The smoke canister, and harrowing video from the train, prompted early concerns about possible explosive devices connected to the case, but Commissioner Sewell assured New Yorkers in an early afternoon news conference that there are no known explosive devices on any subway trains in the city at this time.
Authorities found a 9 mm semi-automatic handgun at the scene, along with extended magazines, a hatchet, detonated and undetonated smoke grenades, a black garbage can, a rolling cart, gasoline -- and the key to that U-Haul van, Essig said.
